Florida Gators set to host FSU, Pierce Coppola working to get back on the mound

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The No. 8 Florida Gators baseball team will renew its rivalry with the undefeated Florida State Seminoles on Tuesday night at Condron Family Ballpark. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Condron Family Ballpark with Dave Neal and Kyle Peterson on the call for SEC Network.

Florida (10-5) will throw true freshman Alex Philpott (2-0, 2.57 ERA). The Noles (14-0) will turn to junior left-hander Andrew Armstrong (2-0, 0.00). The Gators will enter Tuesday night’s contest on a four-game winning streak over FSU and have a 35-19 record over the Seminoles during Kevin O’Sullivan’s tenure.

Florida State has defeated Butler, Western Carolina and New Orleans in a weekend series to begin the campaign. As a team, the Noles are slashing .377/.467/.630 with 26 home runs. On the mound, FSU has pitched to a 2.93 ERA backed by a .980 fielding percentage.

Florida is coming off a series victory over St. Mary’s (W 12-11, L 7-9, W 10-0) to complete a 2-2 week. Infielder Colby Shelton homered in three of the four contests, slashing .421/.450/1.053 with four home runs, nine RBI, six runs and one steal. Designated hitter Brody Donay (.417/.462/.750, HR, 2B, 3 RBI) and catcher Luke Heyman (.400/.550/.667, HR, 2B, 5 RBI, 4 R) were also excellent at the plate across UF’s four games. Right-hander Fisher Jameson tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings across four appearances while righty Ryan Slater chucked four scoreless frames over two outings. 

Pierce Coppola working his way back to Florida Gators starting role

The Gators’ pitching staff has baffled Kevin O’Sullivan. Florida is young on the mound. 11 of their 18 pitchers on the roster are freshmen and three of those freshmen — Caden McDonald, Jacob Gromberg and Christian Rodriguez — are out for the season with injuries.

Starter Cade Fisher has struggled to find the form he showed in the fall and as a freshman out of the bullpen last season. Freshman Liam Peterson has scuffled through his last two starts. Only Jac Caglianone and Ryan Slater have pitched to their potential through the first month of the season. With SEC play on the slate this weekend, the Gators could use a shot in the arm in the form of the return of Pierce Coppola.

Coppola continues to work through rehabilitation and is throwing bullpens. The plan for Coppola would be to get to 100 percent throwing bullpens and then throw to live batters in practice for a week before returning to the mound.

“We always thought that probably the second half (of the SEC schedule) would probably be. I don’t want to put a timeline on it. He can have a setback. He could be a week ahead or a week behind. That’s certainly the goal, the second half of SEC play,” O’Sullivan said of Coppola.

The 6-8 left-hander has first-round MLB potential when he’s healthy. Coppola made just one start — on Sunday of the opening weekend in 2021 as a true freshman. He allowed five hits over 4.1 innings and two earned runs while fanning seven hitters. Due to his injury history (back and shoulder) the plan for bringing him back would be as a starting pitcher. That would allow Coppola to know when he is pitching and get a normal warm up in. Asking him to come out of the bullpen, when the situations and warm up times can vary greatly depending on the game or situation isn’t something the coaching staff is interesting in. If healthy, Coppola would be a welcome addition to a rotation — midweek or weekend — that is still looking to find its footing.